Software as a service (SaaS) model has been gaining popularity recently in the enterprise computing industry. SaaS is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a Web-native software application and hosts and operates (either independently or through a third-party) the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Customers pay not for owning the software itself but for using it. They use it through an application programming interface (API) accessible over the Web.
As a term, SaaS is generally associated with business software and is typically thought of as a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the same benefits of commercially licensed, internally operated software without the associated complexity and high initial cost. Consumer-oriented web-native software is generally known as Web 2.0 and not as SaaS. Many types of software are well suited to the SaaS model, where customers may have little interest or capability in software deployment, but do have substantial computing needs. Application areas such as customer relations management (CRM), video conferencing, human resources, accounting and email are just a few of the initial markets showing SaaS success. The distinction between SaaS and earlier applications delivered over the Internet is that SaaS solutions were developed specifically to leverage web technologies such as the browser, thereby making them web-native.
There have been several SaaS providers in the market. For example, Saleforce.com provides customer relationship management (CRM) for the sales driven companies in the same model. Microsoft provides a complete software stack: Microsoft Office for desktop processing, Windows as the operating system and Microsoft Dynamics for the business applications through the Office LIVE, Windows LIVE as well as Dynamics LIVE initiatives.
However, as a result of continuous requirement, new or existing customers will continuously require new content. Sometimes a service or content provider cannot pre-produce all the required content within a standard release to fulfill all customers. Chances are that the required content is not available, either in a service marketplace or a standard release. Customers want to modify the content in the service marketplace or the standard content (e.g., adding a logo, changing the font size of a certain form). Demands as these will lead to on-demand content requests. When the bottleneck of handling on-demand requests is reached, certain customers may lack resources or know-how to develop and maintain on-demand contents. Work of small amount translates into high total cost of ownership (TCO) if the customers choose to learn and develop the content themselves. In addition, there has been a lack of platforms for a customer to browse, test, try, download, install, maintain, and purchase content services from a content/service provider.